Evil's Edge
by Sapphire-Hedgehog
Summary: The story of the cursed Devil's Arms, and what happens when they gather in one place...CHAPTER 4 UP!
1. Chapter 1

Evil's Edge – A Tales of Symphonia fan fiction by The Sapphire Hedgehog.

Hey ya'll! This is the Sapphire Hedgehog with another videogame based fan fiction! I just finished this game recently and had to write something about it! Anyway, Tales of Symphonia does not belong to me; all rights and stuff go to Namco for making such an awesome game. Enjoy!

It had all started in the Northern city of Flanoir, with the man by the church…

They had been returning from creating a pact with the Summon Spirit of Ice; also known as Celsius, when the man had called out to the group. "Excuse me! Might I have a moment of your time?" Lloyd hand tightened on the hilt of one of the swords he always wore, but he approached the man anyway, saying, "How can we help you?" The man struggled to his feet and said, "You posses the disaster, do you not?" Lloyd looked confused, which was not a first for him, and replied, "The Disaster? What are you talking about?" The man growled and said, "The cursed weapon! You have the cursed weapon boy!" With that, he lunged for Genis's sack, managing to pull something out before being knocked away by a powerful blow to the chest delivered by Regal. The man stood and held up the item he had taken from Genis' sack. It was the strange, pulsing kendama they had gotten from that man in Altamira. "This is the Disaster! One of the eight Devil's Arms!" "What's a Devil's Arm?" Lloyd asked, still confused.

The man sighed and leaned against a nearby building. "My name is Abyssion. I am the last in a long chain of demon hunters. Long ago, my ancestors vanquished the king of demons, known as Nebilim. With his last bit of energy, he placed a curse on my ancestor's weapons with a shout of, 'Your family shall never know peace again!' Since then, every one of my family has died unnatural deaths, and if I am unable to retrieve them all and dispel the curse, I will soon follow." After he finished his tale, Lloyd turned to the others. "Well? Should we help him?" "I believe we should!" Collette said with a smile on his face. Raine nodded her head, "I agree with Collette. He may be able to return the favor in some way." Lloyd looked around the group, each nodding their head in agreement. Everyone that is, except for Presea, who shivered violently and said, "I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this… But if everyone else says yes, then it's ok with me. Lloyd turned to Abyssion and said, "Ok, we'll help you!"

Nobody noticed the fanged grin Abyssion gave at this statement.


	2. Chapter 2

Evil's Edge

Chapter 2: Soul Eater

By The Sapphire Hedgehog

Wow! I never imagined this story would do this well! I started getting reviews for it the day it was published! Thank you for everyone who lent their support and advice! As always, Tales of Symphonia and all characters within it are not mine, they are the result of Namco's hard work in making this awesome game.

It had been three days since they had met Abyssion. When the group had agreed to help them, he had smiled and said,

"I thank you all. The cursed weapons are hidden in special chests around the world. I would have gone to find them myself, but already the curse is affecting me. I don't have the strength to travel across the world. But I can give you something to help you on your quest."

With this, he handed over a strange looking key that looked like it had organs growing on it.

"That is the Nebilim Key. It's presence is the only thing that will unlock the black chests. I have been able to gather one of the Devil's Arms, though."

Lloyd took the offered blades and looked at them. He held in his hand what looked like a large purple tendon and a straight yellow tail with a green eye in it that looked at him. He also began to feel weak from just holding them.

"What is this thing?" Lloyd asked him with a shudder.

"That is my grandfather's weapon, the Nebilim. The weapon shares the name of the Demon King. Please careful, my friend. Let not the evil of the Devil's Arms sway you."

And with these words, he stood up and walked with a slow, but steady, gait towards the entrance of town. The group watched him go, when Regal's deep voice startled them.

"We have obtained the summon spirit of Ice. We have no further business in this place. We should go."

The group nodded, then boarded the Rheiards and took off.

They decided that their next spirit should be the one of fire, since it was relatively close by once the traveled to Sylvarant. Once they arrived at the Renegade Base in Sylvarant, they took off for the ruins where Collette had first received her wings. On the way, however, the Nebilim Key began to vibrate and let out a high pitched sound. AS soon as the sound died away, and ENORMOUS Desert Worm leaped up from the dunes! Lloyd unsheathed his swords and Genis began to bounce the ball on his kendama up and down in preparation for a spell.

Lloyd charged toward the worm and leapt into the air. Aiming carefully, he pointed both swords toward the worm and shouted "Falcon Dive!" just as he shot towards the worm, tearing a large hole through it.

"Gravity Well!" Came Genis' shout, aimed right in the hole the dive had created. The worm had only a second to look at the whole before it imploded with a loud, wet sound.

A light was shining where the worm once appeed, and closer inspection revealed it to be a sword stuck n the sand.

The first Devil's Arm had been found…

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As always, please leave a review!


	3. Chapter 3

Evil's Edge

Chapter 3: Gates of Hell

By The Sapphire Hedgehog

Three chapters down so far! Anyway, you know the usual disclaimer, but just in case you don't, here it is again. I do not own tales of Symphonia or any of the characters contained within it. They are all property of Namco. Lucky jerks.

"Where the blazes is it!" Fumed Sheena, the local ninja of the group.

"How hard can it be to find the Summon Spirit of Earth!"

Lloyd grabbed Sheena's shoulder to tell her to calm down when, at the feeling of the touch, Sheena spun around with red eyes and fangs. A sweat drop appeared on Lloyd's head and he proceeded to feel very small.

"Don't worry, Sheena! I'm sure we'll find him soon!" Collette's cheerful voice piped up.

Sheena relaxed a bit. She didn't know why, but Collette's presence always seemed to calm her down. Maybe it was because she was an angel. But all she knew was that after they had come to terms with each other after her trying to assassinate Collette, their presence soothed one another.

"I'm sure you're right, Collette. It's just that we've been searching these ruins for the last two days, and we still have no clue where to find Gnome." Sheena fell on the ground in frustration, causing it to crack slightly.

Lloyd's eyes widened and he leapt toward Sheena with a cry of ,"Look out!" just as the ground fell from underneath her and her along with it. Lloyd managed to grab her arm, barely making it by leaping off the edge and holding on with one hand. After the adrenaline rush wore off, Lloyd looked down at her.

"You ok?"

He asked with worry in his voice. Sheena nodded an affirmative yes numbly, realizing how close she had come to dying. Overhead, Collette began to panic.

"What should I do!"

"Collette! Go get the others!" Lloyd shouted through gritted teeth. "And hurry!"

"Get the others! Right! Hold on Lloyd!" Collette ran off to get the others, who were having supper not to far away. She came running into them with a cry of, "Lloyd and Sheena are in trouble!

Dinner was immediately forgotten.

Kratos hurriedly got to his feet and strode over to Collette. He grabbed her shoulders and said very calmly, "Calm down Collette. Now where are they?"

A teary-eyed Collette pointed down the passageway she came from. Kratos ran down the passage without so much as an extra thought to the dangers of the cave. The rest were quick to follow. Kratos soon arrived at the scene of the accident and immediately grabbed Lloyd's forearm to try and hoist the two up, but didn't have the strength to do so. Regal stepped up behind him and said quietly, "Step aside." Kratos did so, and Regal bent down and grasped Lloyd's arm and easily pulled the two to safety.

"Gah! Thanks Regal…" Lloyd noticed a worried look on Sheena's face as she stared down into the darkness of the bit. He walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok. We're safe now." He said, trying to comfort her.

"No, it's not that." She looked up at him and he could see the tears on her face. "Corrine's Bell fell down there! We have to get it, Lloyd!"

Lloyd solemnly nodded. He knew how much Corrine had meant to Sheena, and when he had jumped into the path of Volt's lightning, Sheena hadn't been the same for weeks. He turned to the others and said, "We're going down, guys. Anyone have a rope?" Almost simultaneously, everyone reached into their packs and pulled out climbing rope. Another sweat drop.

"How come everyone but me has rope!"

"Because you didn't prepare when we left Meltokio, Lloyd. It was on the list Raine gave us." Genis piped up.

Lloyd sighed, but began to tie the ropes together and lash them to a nearby stalagmite. He tied it around his waist and descended into the darkness. When he was down all the way, he untied himself and gave the rope a sharp tug. It was hauled up and Sheena came down. This process repeated until everyone had come down the rope.

"Alright, first things first," Said Lloyd to the group, taking a lead of authority, "We need to split up into two teams to search for that bell. Me, Sheena, Collette, and Presea will go this way," He said pointing down one path. "Regal, Raine, Kratos and Genis will go the other way. "We'll meet up in one hour."

"Be careful Lloyd." Kratos warned him.

"Don't worry, I will."

They went their separate ways, and it didn't take long before Lloyd spotted a glimpse of something shining up ahead.

"Sheena immediately ran forward without so much as a second thought, but froze in terror when she saw where the bell was.

Stuck in the scales of the biggest Dragon Lloyd had ever seen.

Everyone drew their weapons and Sheena said, "This one's for you, Corinne."

Presea started off the battle with an immediate Devastation attack, knocking the beat into the air where Lloyd was attacking it with Heavy Tiger Fang. While it was dazed, Collette and Sheena attacked simultaneously with Judgment and Demon Seal. Lloyd jumped at it and finished it off with Demonic Circle.

"Llolyd was just about to say something when he felt a strange vibration. He reached into his breast pocket and removed the Nebilim Key from his pocket. It was vibrating and pulling Lloyd into the Dragon's Den area.

There it was. The third Black Box. Lloyd hurriedly opened it and pulled out the mysterious deck of cards. They were off-white, coffin shaped, and had a picture of a gnarled, twisted feather on them.

"The Gates of Hell." Intoned Presea.

Three down, six more to go.


	4. Chapter 4

Evil's Edge

Chapter 4: Fafnir

By: The Sapphire Hedgehog.

Fourth Chapter up! Yay for me! I just wanted to place in a few notes here. One, I REALLY dislike Zelos. So as far as I'm concerned, he and Kratos have switched places and Zelos now works for Cruxius. I'm sorry if I confused anyone in the last chapter.

Secondly, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed and helped to refine this otherwise piece of crap, namely, Cyberbanjo for giving me format ideas and bringing up Kratos in Cruxius thing.

Sheena pushed aside a tree branch in her path, only to have it snap back and smack Lloyd in the face, which made him fall back onto Regal, who held him up until he could keep walking. Walking forward, and holding a growing welt on his face, Lloyd complained,

"Remind me again why we're going through the Gaoracchia forest again!"

Genis sighed as he heard this comment and began to jog to catch up to Lloyd. When he was beside him, he kicked Lloyd and said,

"Don't you remember? Sheena's duel with Kuchinawa was scheduled for today!

"Well, why can't we take the Rheiards?"

"We would be, if a certain boy and his dog hadn't wrecked them again!"

Lloyd sweatdropped at that. It was true that he and Noishe had been playing to close to the Rheiards, but it wasn't entirely his fault! Collette had surprised him, causing him to throw the Frisbee to close to the machines and Noishe to barrel them over.

"Oh yeah. Right."

They came across some overgrown vegetation blocking the path and Lloyd realized that he had neglected to change the function of the Sorcerer's Ring. Sheena looked back at him and Lloyd suddenly looked very nervous. She realized what had happened and, with a growl, snatched the Sorcerer's Ring from him and dashed off towards the entrance they had come in to the Forest.

"Stupid Lloyd! Forgetting to change the Ring! I'm already late enough as it is!"

It was true. They had accidentally woken up a half hour later than they were supposed to, and seeing that the Rheiards were in Altessa's care right now, were forced to hike though the forest.

She had just arrived at the Ring converter when three burly men stepped out from the surrounding forest and quickly surrounded Sheena. She looked at the men and measured the situation while coolly reaching for her deck of cards, but realized with a start that she had left them back with the group in her frustration of Lloyd.

"Well, well. Look what we gots here boys. A lone defenseless woman running through the forest. No doubt from some kind of insect or bird in her hair!"

At this remark, the three men began to laugh and Sheena started to get a little worried. She could handle one of them, maybe even two on her own, but she wasn't sure if she could take all three down on her own. These men obviously knew their way around the forest from the way they materialized so silently, and it was also obvious they possessed great strength.

"Now you see here little lady, we gots a toll for passing through these parts."

"Wh-what's the toll?"

"Heh-heh… 1,000,000 Gald dearie. And if you don't have that…we'll have to take it from somewhere else…"

The third man said, taking in her shapely curves with greedy eyes.

The three men began to advance on the quivering Sheena when, suddenly, a voice called out from not to far away.

"Demon Fang! Demon Fang! FIERCE DEMON FANG!"

Two blue energy waves followed by a much larger bright orange one shot across the clearing and hit the men, sending them flying into the trees. One of them wasn't so lucky, though. He smashed into a tree and slumped down to the forest floor. Kratos sheathed his sword with a mutter of "Amateurs."

Him and the rest of the party walked out from the nearby forest and Kratos walked over to the thug that slammed into the tree and picked him up by his vest and shook him until he came to. As soon as he saw the auburn haired man though, he began to cower in fear.

"Tell me who sent you, and I won't have to kill you."

He threatened menacingly, holding his sword to the man's throat.

"Me and the other two were walking along the path and we heard a voice talk to us. It said 'Get rid of the one from Mizuho and I shall reward you greatly' that's all I know! I swear it!"

Kratos looked at him, then slammed the man's head into the tree and knocked him out again.

Lloyd had hear the whole thing and said,

"Could it be one of the Devils' Arms?"

"Possibly. Lloyd, scout around; see if you can find it. I'll check up on Sheena."

Lloyd nodded and ran off into the surrounding foliage. Kratos walked over to Sheena and out a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you okay?"

Sheena nodded before bursting into tears.

"Oh Kratos, I thought they were actually going to…to…"

A fresh wave of tears sprang up from her eyes and she threw her arms around Kratos' neck just as Lloyd walked back to the clearing carrying a large black box.

Kratos gently pried Sheena off of his neck with help from Lloyd and helped her to stand up.

"Is that it?"

"Yeah. The key started vibrating and I followed the vibrations until I found this."

"Lloyd kneeled down and inserted the key into the lack and turned, watching as it opened smoothly and effortlessly. Reaching inside of it, he pulled out an odd looking dagger. The blade was a dull orange and looked like a pair of dragon wings while a purple orb floated in between the wings. The whole thing seemed to drip with malice and hatred.

Collette's voice cried out from not to far away. "Abyission!"

It was true. The man had limped into the clearing where they were and was looking worlds better.

"I thank you friends. Since I have been recovering from the effects of the Nebilim being in my possession, I have been getting better gradually. Listen, I cam to tell you where the ritual will be taking place. In the temple of Shade, where you found the summon spirit. You must meet me there when you have all nine Devils' Arms."

Then he left as suddenly as he appeared.

"Well, at least we can almost break his curse" Lloyd said, "We already have five of the nine. Don't worry Abyssion, you'll be free of this curse soon!"


End file.
